Savoring the Seasons of the Northern Heartland

Collaborating with writer Dooley, Minneapolis chef and restaurateur Watson offers both a stylish understanding of home cooking and a realistic perspective on its preparation. Wild game sausages are trendy; their version skips the labor-intensive stuffing of sausage casings. Instead, the authors recommend making grilled patties, and layering the smoky sausage with roasted red peppers and potato bread for a hearty sandwich. Though they usually choose seasonal ingredients native to the heartland, specialties such as toasted hazelnuts and fresh morels give their cuisine more sophistication than the typical Midwestern farm family cookbook. Sidebars of text culled from farm-town newspapers and old church or community cookbooks give perspective-and humor-to the book. Visitors to the Midwest can take away this cookbook as an inspiration to re-create the region's food, while natives can find plenty of family favorites tucked in among more modern dishes. This is the 14th volume in the Knopf Cooks American series. Photos not seen by PW. Better Homes and Gardens Book Club selection. (Oct.)